Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Sand Mountain tractor company still trying to sell to Cuba after 2 years

Sand Mountain tractor company still trying to sell to Cuba after 2 years
Tuesday, May 9th 2017, 1:07 am CEDT
By Stephen McLamb

A Sand Mountain company is still trying to get into Cuba to sell its
tractors two years after announcing its plans.

Cleber LLC hoped to become one of the first companies to do business
there after former President Barack Obama eased restrictions with the
country.

READ MORE: Tractor design aimed for Cuba based off Paint Rock model

In 2015, Cleber LLC president Horace Clemmons hoped for his new tractor
company to be the first in Cuba.

"Cuba is going to push more responsibility on the local farmers. We
decided the best thing we could do is build the most cost-effective
tractor," Clemmons said in 2015.

Two years later, they're now building that tractor.

"Well, in Cuba, the embargo has not been lifted so we're not able to
produce tractors in Cuba yet, but what we learned from Cuba is what we
created had global applications," said Locky Catron with Cleber LLC.

So they're now trying to sell in other nations what they can't bring to
Cuba just yet.

"We've shipped tractors to Peru, Ethiopia and Australia, but really the
most important part of our business is the local aspect," said Catron.

The Oggun tractor runs around $12,000 and is designed for the small farmer.

Clemmons said Cuba has around 300,000 farmers and just 60,000 tractors.

"Until the embargo is completely lifted, then nobody will be able to do
anything in Cuba, so that's why our focus has come back to U.S.
farmers to come back to farmers in the developing world," said Catron.

The Cleber company will be showing off their tractor at a couple of
locations in Cullman and Marshall counties over the next couple of weeks.